Raine Gifford
These days I’m mostly working among three related currents.
Square watercolor “tile” mosaic – which sometimes feel like scapes (land, sea, sky). I think of these as being “about” my appreciation and love of color and material (water color/pigment, paper, brushes, marks); they are also an attempt to address and involve negative space, with light and shadow. They bring to my mind a collection of moments; how individual bits of time and memory collect and become something cumulative. Although each square is considered carefully and the order of the squares is laid out purposefully, when assembled there is always an element of surprise at what takes shape.
Still life watercolor – from a (mostly) weekly exercise (“Watercolor Wednesdays”, developed and practiced in collaboration with Jen Moore Smith) in which I draw and paint while looking at something (fruit, shells, flowers, bones, leaves etc). This process is both disciplined and meditative. I appreciate how difficult it is to look and keep looking, and how the process of looking and drawing unfolds in ways that I don’t anticipate.
Acrylic – I’m exploring the medium (colors, different mediums- matte and gloss and extenders; surfaces & different brushes, sandpaper & rags & layers upon layers), using as subject objects and images which appeal to me for color, shape, composition. These are generally from nature – beach, shells, flowers, ocean. I am interested in the space between; shadows, reflections, evidence of movement and the passage of time. While I endeavor to describe the subject in a given painting, what makes me happiest are the parts that look like paint.
145 Palisade St, Studio 233, Dobbs Ferry, NY